Buyer's support thread #5

[scribblegirl]

Sorry for breaking the last one

and for all....

[kirinm]

Thanks Spickle. Can completion be delayed if they belong to the vendor? Giving him 7 days is no good to us. We cannot move in unless the furniture goes.

[Spickle]

Yes the vendor should remove the items, however do the items belong to the tenant? The vendor cannot remove items he doesn't own. Your solicitor will need to write to the other side asking that the items are removed by the tenant within x days and if not, that they will be disposed of in a skip at their client's cost.

[kirinm]

That's what I'm hoping we've received but all of our stuff is packed so I can't find it.

Googling suggests they do have an obligation to move it but the only info I can find relates to action you can take post-completion. I need to know if we can delay completion. If we can't, we will have to sue him afterwards for the costs we incur but that's no good when we don't have any money to spend on getting rid of all the furniture!

[faffalotty]

In one of the documents we've signed there's a clause that we won't leave anything in the property (other than on the fixtures and fittings list) Seemed like that was a standard form.

[kirinm]

Faffa - that's what I'm trying to find out. I've asked our solicitor if it's potentially something that can delay completion at the vendors expense.

The contract says that everything on the fixtures and fittings form must be left but doesn't state that other things cannot be left. I'm pretty sure I've seen a document somewhere that does say that but I'm at work so can't find it. I really hope the vendor is responsible for removing it because it'll cost a fortune to get rid of and we can't move in - there just isn't enough room for us to!

[faffalotty]

kirinm - surely leaving items in the house is in breach of contract isn't it? and the responsibility of the vendor.
Regarding the gas bill I would ask them for their forwarding address and send it on.

[faffalotty]

I know this is buyer's support, but got an annoying issue with our house sale. Had naively thought everything was going smoothly but have had some really weird questions now from our buyers' solicitors - asking about things that don't even seem to relate to our house and also asking questions that we've already answered. Our solicitor is going to reply to them to get clarification but I assume that means sending a letter by 2nd class post and getting one back which still doesn't make sense (and so on for several weeks). So I think I'll contact our EA to see if they can speak directly to buyers to get them to sort it (that's ok isn't it?) I've not actually met the buyers but hope that they are reasonable and not the ones causing the problems.

They are also now talking about wanting to make a deduction to the price for some damp proofing work they want done - this is several weeks after the survey so we'd assumed they had no issues. They haven't given a figure

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

We had that moment too as everything was so dirty and without furniture you find all the cracks and holes and broken bits and doors that won't open and completely horrifying unsafe wiring solutions that you couldn't see before.

My amazing PIL were round there all day yesterday and honestly after a good bloody CLEAN each room starts to look like a doable project. The lovely thing with buying is there's actually no rush to get it perfect although like you guys I wish I could have it the way I want NOW.

In other news we overheard our neighbour's children saying clearly-learned-from-parents things about how nice it would be to have neighbours who actually clean the house! We were shaking with laughter inside

[kirinm]

Yeah, if we had £20k sitting in the bank it would be fine but we don't so are going to have to live with it for a while. Luckily DP is an electrician and we know lots of tradesman so we can start re-wiring / re-plumbing fairly quickly.

[Nervybuyer2016]

It sounds like it's going to so great when you're done with it!

It's hard isn't it, we've rented up till now and lived in big beautiful houses we could never afford to buy. I absolutely love the house we are buying but it's going to take so long to make it how I we want, both time and money a factor. I know my impatience will kill me slowly!

[kirinm]

I think it's just a bit of a moment when we can see how much needs to be done. We plan to completely change it. Walls need to be pulled down, floor up, ceilings pulled down and put up again (it's a big Victorian flat but they've lowered the ceilings a lot - probably for soundproofing but they've lowered it by like 3 ft and it definitely doesn't need to be that low). Everything needs doing and I also saw a wet patch on the ceiling which is a bit concerning.

It also smells of smoke as the tenants smoked there. It's not really anything we didn't know but having lived in nice places for the last 18 years, it does feel like a total dive.

I think the fact it's full of furniture has just really pissed us off.

[Nervybuyer2016]

Oh noooo! How can they get away with leaving all that stuff there?!? And a big fat NO to babysitting the plants, what on earth?!

I'm not sure on the gas bill thing, I make dh deal with all that shit these days and have forgotten how that stuff works.

How much needs doing? You might feel much better about it once it's empty? What made you buy it in the first place? Try to focus on that.

[kirinm]

Arrrrrrgh!

The good news is that the tenants have gone and they've left it fairly clean. The bad news is that the flat is FULL of furniture.
We are talking wardrobes, chest of drawers, two sofas, table and chairs and double bed.

The EA is going to contact the vendor so it'd better be gone by Friday. If it hasn't, I'll be ordering a removal van and getting them to deliver it to the vendors home.

The tenant left some big plants in the living room and said she'd be round to collect them at the end of September. Errrr is that weird?

And they've also told us they're expecting their final gas bill so can we call them when it arrives so they can come over and get it. That's always weird, right?

Oh and the flat needs so much work now that we can see everything and neither of us felt much love for it. Urgh!

[Twodogsandahooch]

Yes Fingers crossed for you Kirin.

I had a call from the estate agent this am to pass on a message from my buyer. She wanted me to know that the price reduction wasn't part of a game!! I appreciate the sentiment (I think). Aiming to exchange this week

[Nervybuyer2016]

Kiri I reaaaally hope it is vacant and in a decent state for you!

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

Crossing everything for you!!

[kirinm]

Thanks Hey. So we basically wait for the phone to ring.

Today is the day we find out if the tenants / vendor and solicitor have breached the contract (tenant required to move out by yesterday).

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

Completion day - we got a call from the EA to say the vendor had dropped off the keys. Another from our solicitor to say the monies had been transferred. Then they called again to say the vendor's solicitor had confirmed receipt and instructed key release. Then a final call from the EA inviting us to pick up the keys.

[kirinm]

We were going to move on Friday but because we don't know when we will actually get the keys we've put it back to Saturday. We can't afford to just have a removal van sitting around waiting to get the okay.


Apparently we do just wait for a phone call.

[Nervybuyer2016]

Should have been Wednesday but my solicitors aren't ready it would seem, we now don't have time to complete on the expected day (because of the type of purchase things have to run to a certain schedule, trying to be vague so as not to out!)

So I really just do not know anymore!


Good question Kiri! I have no idea! I assume that as soon as confirmation is sent all around that the monies have been paid and received that you just get a call to pick up keys!? So do your movers literally just wait around until then?!?

[kirinm]

Any idea when you are going to exchange nervy?

Does anyone know what happens on completion day? Do we just wait for a call?

[Nervybuyer2016]

Starting to lose my nerve!

Why are the solicitors saying that they're waiting on each other?! Just bloody exchange already!!!

[Chillywhippet]

Twodogs, sometimes you have to give a little to make it happen. Hopefully they'll feel the same and settle for that and you can progress.

Heyhey, looking good, supper in new kitchen

Our vendor hasn't replied to a query we made 2 weeks ago. Can't understand why they are dragging heels now. They have moved abroad. We have funds and are ready to go.

We didn't ask for a reduction after survey although there are lots of little things and some damp one chimney but the house was built in fifties so we expect some issues.

Waiting. Waiting

[kirinm]

Congratulations Heyhey! Finally there. Hope you're loving it.

[Heyheyheygoodbye]

Close, Twodogs!